Premiere: Zyles unfreezes a blissful ‘Cuddle Puddle’ parade

With the world in such a treacherous state, we’ve all got to have an escape route to pure ecstasy. It’s only human nature to want to bust down the hatch for even a fleeting rendezvous on the club floor or a stolen kiss on a star-crusted rooftop somewhere. Zach Yellin-Flaherty, known onstage as Zyles, which is culled from his Chinese name (Ye Zi Li), plots a romantic and exotic outing with “Cuddle Puddle,” sketched in vague terms as best to serve the listener’s indestructible imagination. In igniting such a flammable dance bop, he conceals his emotions behind sweltering heat waves of synths and disco beats.

“Cuddle just the same,” he sings on loop, coaxing us further into the electronic splatters. Yellin-Flaherty, who grew up in Manhattan and now resides in San Fransisco, layering on a stylized, sunny and sleek California aesthetic, finds his sweet spot between the flickering grooves of the underground and the well-groomed polish of the mainstream. “You might find me lying on you / But look for me, you’ll probably see there are other lovers,” he concedes, a sheepish grin feathering his lips.

With “Cuddle Puddle,” Yellin-Flaherty, who has worked extensively in the tech scene of the Bay Area, bares his intentions in majestic pop spades that are as visceral as they are liberating. His studies at Stanford and dips into such musical pools as jazz, rock and blues serve him well across a swath of single releases this year; those honeyed tendencies are splattered on in thickly subtle ways here, too. His voice wafts across the metallic melodies, and in his provocative suggestions, he hooks you in and leaves you breathless. “Pacing through a warehouse / Those raving days are gone forever / But I can pay a fair price / And in it’s place, I’ll build whatever I like,” he promises, the song gently crescendoing from a somber ballad into a fevered fist-pumper.

“‘Cuddle Puddle’ depicts a universe where everything is a little bit wrong. But why would you think about that when you’re having such a great time? The narrator is a powerful figure suggesting that we’re all equals in a cuddle puddle,” the singer-songwriter tells B-Sides & Badlands, premiering the song today. “It’s absurdity. But it’s the kind of wishful thinking that allows us to truly decompress. You can’t think about hierarchy on the dance floor, in your rec league, book club or wherever you let loose.”

“Cuddle Puddle,” which follows the slow-burning “Secretary,” samples his forthcoming debut EP, expected in 2019.

Listen below:

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